Gloam

Time and again, I will find that fragrances that are consistently lambasted will turn out to be the very ones for which I grow ever so fond. Protests of Gloam include it smelling of sweat and B.O. due to its presence of cumin, a certain medicinal quality that is deemed off-putting, a sharp powder deemed unpleasant. Even its performance is considered middling, which especially puzzles me. But listen: I love a sweaty undercurrent, I live for oddly phenolic medicinal elements, powder is no foe of mine—I revel in it. All these gripes made Gloam sound all the more enticing to me, as if beckoning me to test the limits of decency. In truth, this isn't exactly as transgressive as one might be expect given all the feedback. It's oddball for sure, a sorta dirty, sorta spicy pollen-heavy mimosa shaded with what seems like cuminaldehyde, moored with iris and dusky woods. When I found that the illustrious Jane Dashley of the podcast Fragraphilia wrote her own review, I was certain to try this out for myself as her taste is impeccable. I agree with her in that there is this licorice-like element that lurks among blooms and twigs and beads of sweat. I also am reminded of just snuffed candles in dusty rooms, the starchy cotton that is stuffed into aspirin bottles, and the smell of a small bouquet of wildflowers that's been pressed into a scrapbook and rediscovered several months later. Saffron is listed in the notes breakdown, and while discernible, it thankfully is not of the excessive Safraleine sort, but it does lend a warm, leathery element to the woody dry down. Gloam's ode to evenfall is a tryst between flowers and body heat in the secret thicket of my imagination.

I absolutely love this scent. an aesop worker sprayed my bag with this one back in may, and I haven't been able to get it off my mind since. I really can not understand why there are so many haters of this perfume, as I truly do love it. I am now working at aesop, and I have had many conversations with my colleagues about this one. some of them do not love it, some are obsessed. funnily enough, two costumers I ́ve had have loooooooved it so much. they, just like me, really appreciate the mic between woody and spices and the light florals. AS someone who's staple perfume was Replica ́s Jazz Club for a long time, I absolutely adore this. my coworker called it "Jazz club ́s sexy big brother" and it is such a good description. I really do love it, and it makes me happy to be able to introduce it to customers and see that they like it too.

I *adore* this fragrance. For whatever reason, things tend to smell both a little greener and sweeter on my skin than on fabrics, etc., so take that in mind with this review. For me this is a very yellow floral, saffron, woody forward scent. Everything I like! Dry-down lends a strong mallow cast over the notes already mentioned. I purchased the full size after falling in love with the sample over a day or two, although at its price point, Gloam is sadly much outside my budget. When I still had it, I wanted to wear it everyday. I did. I’m out now— this fragrance to me would be perfect if it lasted longer. I found myself reapplying more than I would like. I understand that this is a polarizing scent— if anyone has a bottle they feel like letting go let me know ;)

Gloam wisps close to the skin, faint echos escaping as you move through space. Incredible powder, coupled with spice and flower. This is your lover, wearing a familiar, elegant perfume, but having forgotten deodorant that morning. It is the end of the day, and you have known each other for lifetimes. You are lying beneath the sun and the moon at the same time, kissing, and there is sweet food stuck to your molars. A softness, cut by a distinct warmth that could only come from a long day of a body being a body.

I think that any fragrance that uses cumin is going to be divisive and would not recommend this as a blind buy. With that said, I am absolutely in love with this perfume. I got a sample to try to see if it would make a good present for my partner and no, it is now a present for me. Was going through a gourmand phase but I guess I'll be putting away everything that makes me smell like a cupcake in favour of androgynous sophistication. Thanks, Aesop! Very woody/spicy on my skin. A little more balanced on his.